Gerald Ford 'troubled' by former generals' Rumsfeld complaints

[ECH1969]

Former President Ford said Friday he is troubled by the efforts of retired generals to force the ouster of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.

Ford, 92, said the decision on keeping Rumsfeld is the president's alone. "Allowing retired generals to dictate our country's policies and its leadership would be a dangerous precedent that would severely undermine our country's long tradition of civilian control of the military," Ford said.

"It would discourage civilian leaders at the (Defense) Department from having frank and candid exchanges with military officers. And, today, at a time of war, such an effort sends exactly the wrong message both to our troops deployed abroad and to our enemies who are watching for any signs of weakness or self-doubt."

"He knew that Don, who had been in the job before, was extremely well-suited to take on this challenge and contend with a bureaucracy that has a built-in resistance to change. The president knew that successfully carrying out these missions, against stiff resistance, takes someone with a certain amount of steel," Ford said.


http://www.bakersfield.com/119/story/47424.html?

[NoAmericanTaliban]

1. This proves he bumped his head one too many times...

[anotherdrew]

47. the generals are simply informing public opinion about the situation

does Ford sugest that they have no right to speak?

[WildEyedLiberal]

2. A certain amount of steel, and competency

The latter of which Rumsfeld lacks utterly. I actually agree with Ford's point about not wanting too undue a military influence on civilian matters, but anyone who has followed Iraq from start to finish can see how incomptent Rumsfeld is, and that has direct ramifications for our soldiers, so of course the generals are going to speak up.

[napi21]

3. Actually, I think it's good that Rummy stay!

More and more people are realizing that Rummy is either too old, too stubborn, or both. He can do NOTHING but continue to help bring Shrub down! I say stick it out Rummy!!!!

[TheCowsCameHome]

39. I'll drink to that. Nothing like an albatross to help your poll numbers

The more these fools dig in the worse their party looks.

[MADem]

4. Rummy WORKED for Ford, with Deadeye, in Ford's WH

No surprise the old fool would pipe up on his behalf, really...

I suspect, though, if he were sitting in the Oval Office chair today (assuming his health and brainpower could take the strain) he'd have fired the batshit crazy bastard a long while ago...or perhaps never have hired him for that job in the first place.

[liberalhistorian]

33. I suspect you're right, I don't think

he would have hired him as SecDef in the first place; even if he did, he would have fired him long ago, as you say. Ford has more brains, class and integrity in the tip of his pinkie finger than the entire Bush family has.

And yes, the generals have the right to speak out when they see the country they love and that they so honorably served, risking their lives, suffering tremendous damage and in continued danger. What is it with republicans and their "sit-down-and-shut-up" mantra all the time? That's so un-American, and so against what the founders wanted, that it's infuriating. Good thing for us and the repubs that the colonial dissenters didn't "sit down and shut up".

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

49. No way, Ford is a BushCo man all the way

they own him, and have for a long, long time.

If he were there, the same shit would be happening, but at least Ford was amusing instead of annoying.

[SlipperySlope]

5. I always liked Ford.

Maybe I was just glad to see Tricky Dick go...

[Faygo Kid]

11. He won a Profiles in Courage award.

That's Caroline Kennedy's protgram. He was ruined by his pardon of Nixon, but I remember the nation's mood well then. Perhaps it was best to move on. I could countenance a pardon of a president who abused his office as a paranoid to stay in power, for the good of the country. No pardon ever for a president who uses lies and fear to take us into war.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

34. He was already ruined by his role as a Warren Report commissioner....

...when he reported everything he saw and heard to the CIA and FBI.

Nixon was a lying scumbag who did quite a few bad things in his career such as helping Joe McCarthy in his witch-hunt against State Department employees. He was fed names by J. Edgar Hoover, and he reported those names to McCarthy. That ruined the lives of quite a few good people. Reagan was doing the same thing for McCarty in McCarthy's witch-hunt of Hollywood. That also ruined a lot of people.

As VP, Nixon ran a covert operations group out of the White House that operated throughout Central America, South America, and the Caribbean Basin. Some of the people he worked with should be easily remembered...E. Howard Hunt, Bernard Barker, Frank Sturgis, and Al Haig. He was also one of the principal planners of the Bay of Pigs. Despite denying three different times that he was there, Nixon was also in Dallas for the week preceeding JFK's assassination, and left on a flight just as JFK was being shot to death in Dealey Plaza.

Nixon used a lot of lies and fear to get where he was when he became president. Don't forget the names of those who were assassinated shortly before Nixon was elected president...MLK, Jr. in April 1968, and RFK in June 1968. Lots of questions have never been answered about the deaths of those two.

[TheCowsCameHome]

40. Bush will win a Profiles in Incompetence award.

[ToeBot]

6. Is there anyone Ford wont 'pardon'? eom

[katinmn]

48. excellent point! LOL

:rofl:

[converted_democrat]

7. If we shouldn't listen to former Generals, why should we listen to former

presidents?

[vickitulsa]

22. Excellent point, CD. And I'm fairly sure it didn't occur to good ole

Nixon-pardoning Gerry that 92-year-old ex-presidents who are Republicans to boot are hardly the best "advisors" either!

I've always heard that military personnel who are the ones who have actually seen the horrors of war close up are likely the ones to be most reluctant to begin any military action in the first place -- especially an invasion of a major country in a particularly "explosive" part of the world. I'm pretty sure I heard Stormin' Norman Schwartzkopf say this flat out.

And we all know how wrongheaded and disastrous were the efforts of two "civilian" leaders named Johnson and Nixon to micromanage the Vietnam War.

Never thought I'd hear myself say this, but I suspect we'd be better off these days paying more heed to what the military brass recommend instead of putting all that destructive power in the hands of American politicians! Doesn't seem right that civilians in charge can just FIRE any generals who disagree with their plots in order to leave only those remaining who will kowtow to their ignoble political wishes.

[cliss]

31. GREAT comeback.

You get the Blue-ribbon award for best reply.

Seriously though, I'm working on an article about Don Rumsfailed. It's scathing. I'm portraying Rumsfailed as an old dinosaur, a relic from the Nixon era.

Time to go, Don.

[0007]

35. Especially after they get to be 90 and wasn't too bright to begin

with.

[goclark]

42. He is a nice guy but he is about a 10 watt bulb nt

[0007]

44. At giving him too much credit!

[TexasLawyer]

37. I was just about to say the same thing!

great minds, and all that!

[Mind_your_head]

46. Touche! n/t

[flobee1]

8. If I'm not mistaken

"retired generals" are now normal voting citizens
--Allowing -citizens- to dictate our country's policies and its leadership would be a dangerous precedent that would severely undermine our country's long tradition of civilian control of the military--

I think the mans mind is going

[Missy M]

9. My opinion of Gerald Ford just went down.......

and I think he is wrong. Anyone in public office should be able to be criticised and they should leave if they aren't capable of performing their job. The retired generals are American citizens and have the right to speak their minds like anyone else. It is very scary to think it is Bush's decision alone to keep Rumsfeld.

[goclark]

45. For them to pull Gerald Ford out of the hat

shows how desperate they are ~ love it!

[saltpoint]

10. I'd like to ask former President Ford if he is at all "concerned" about

a Secretary of Defense who presides over torture centers in at least three continents.

[wtmusic]

13. no freaking kidding

is Ford maybe senile?

[saltpoint]

19. Hi, wtmusic. Well, he might be. Some of us thought he was while he

was in office.

Evidently he was never noted for being especially cerebral. Lyndon Johnson once said of then-Congressman Ford, "Jerry Ford can't fart and chew gum at the same time."

And most folks now believe his perceived disconnect on Poland's being under the gun of the Soviet Union, plus the Nixon pardon, gave Jimmy Carter the presidency in '76.

[Sinti]

12. If freedom of speech is so dangerous maybe he should STFU first

I am so sick of hearing how "our enemies are watching for any signs of weakness or self-doubt." Any question anyone asks somehow aids our enemies and hurts the troops. If you can't look at yourself and make an honest assessment of whether you're doing a good job, and if you can't allow others to review your work and ask the same, you are far to fragile to be holding that position anyway IMO.

[swag]

14. Who rattled his zipper?

[mitchum]

15. Well, I'm troubled by Ford's career as J Edgar Hoover's stooge...

doesn't that hack have an honorarium to go collect somewhere?
Greedy corrupt ba$tard.

[pacalo]

16. The one who pardoned Nixon needs to catch up on what's happening.

If the Nixon-era neocons in the White House prompted this 92-year-old cancer patient to say this garbage, they're even more despicable than I ever imagined.

[Spinzonner]

17. Criticizing is not 'dictating'

and they are retired, not active duty involved in executing Rumsfeld's orders.

Apparently Ford no longer understands the Constitution and Democracy.

[iamahaingttta]

18. Rumsfeld is NOT incompetent!

Please stop enabling that tired and untrue meme!

He is doing a PERFECT job of implementing the Neo-Con agenda. Everything is right on track. Those people are sitting on "our" oil, and "we" are just gonna keep letting them kill each other off while we continue to build bases in the desert. Domestically, the Cabal is destroying the government so that they can privatize everything. Stop saying Rumsfeld (or Bush for that matter) is stupid and incompetent. He's not!

He's pure evil, serving an agenda that is moving along very nicely. And, no, I'm not fucking kidding!

[Sinti]

20. Oddly, I agree with you

Peace in Iraq would mean we're out of there, and we need to keep our boys and bases in there, so we can continue with the plan.

[TexasLawyer]

21. Right out of central script writing.

Thanks Gerald.

[vickitulsa]

25. Interesting that they're trotting out the one Republican president

that many Democrats have somewhat kinder feelings toward to utter their meme at this point, isn't it?

The minute Gerald Ford pardoned Nixon he lost any positive opinion I might have held of him. But I think a lot of Americans were so sick of hearing about the Watergate scandal, and a good portion of us probably feared for our country's stability if a President were put on trial. So they were ready to embrace Ford as the man who could "help heal our wounds," when he actually did nothing to effect that at all.

All he did was to give us a new face to see on our TV screens and provide a few laughs with his public bumbling and stumbling.

[sendero]

23. Changing a beauracracy is fine..

.. but one has to produce something like a positive result at some point. I'm wondering where the positive result is.

A war that is an abject failure in its objective, at a (thanks to outsourcing to civilian overpaid contractors) is costing twice what it should.

Sure, Rummy's a genius.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

24. B_E_B 'troubled' by Gerald Ford pardoning Nixon, so...

...let's call it a draw.

:patriot:

[Xipe Totec]

26. I Agree with G. Ford, Rummy should not step down

Chimpy should be the one to step down, he's the one that should fall on his butter knife for the good of the country.

[BootinUp]

27. How the F does this discourage

discussions between Rummy and the Pentagon? I am really getting tired of the RW attacking retired Generals who have a right as citizens of our country to speak out and as citizens in a fact they have a duty to.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

28. Good ol' Warren Commission Jerry....a NeoCon ancestor.

[mitchum]

32. Absolutely! (n/t)

[Book Lover]

29. Jerry, you *could* have said something like this instead,

"Seeing five former generals openly speaking against the current DS worries me; not only insofar as it threatens the traditional structure of complete civilian control over the military, because it certainly does, but more importantly as a measure of how far the situation has deteriorated. Why has the current President allowed this situation to happen? These men were considered the finest military leaders our services could produce; to throw away their opinions would be foolish, in my view. Simply saying, 'I trust Rumsfeld,' is not enough. The President needs to be persuasive, and I see no sign of him doing so."

[savemefromdumbya]

30. Haven't we got news for gerald Ford?

I thought Ford was dead oops!

[Rose Siding]

36. I see way too many mystery movies

Former first lady Betty Ford returned home Friday after an overnight stay at Eisenhower Medical Center for undisclosed tests, a family spokeswoman said.

Ford, who turned 88 last month, had an appointment for tests Thursday afternoon, spokeswoman Penny Circle said.

http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-betty-ford,0,4737349.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines

If I were a screen writer this would make it to my notebook, along with the hit and run killing outside Kucinich's office window involving a school bus that no one can find.

[tabasco]

38. This country was started by people speaking out vs. the govt.!!

Now we have traitors telling us it is not allowed!!

[IndianaGreen]

41. Retired generals are civilians and as such, they can speak up

Jerry Ford is repeating the WH mantra about "civilian control" at a time when we have a tyrant in the White House that has placed himself above the law.

[rusty_parts2001]

43. Per LBJ

Ford played one too many football games without a helmet.